The sword started with a soft iron core (see bad ASCII art below of a cross section). The blacksmith then made six wrought iron "spirals", like the ones fancy fences are made from, and these were hammered and welded onto the iron core. This flattened the spirals, which should have made a chevron pattern on the blade.
The cutting edge was another piece of metal, this time carbon steel for strength. This was welded onto the side of the iron core, with smaller pieces of metal above and below to support it. The edge pieces extended beyond the core and were hammered together to form a strong, hard point (see other bad ASCII art).
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Cross section Plan of tip
In all, 79 separate pieces of metal were used to make the single sword. A lot of iron was burnt off in the forge: 7lb of iron was used to make a 1.5lb finished sword!
The sword was finished to a dull shine to emphasise the patterning in the wrought iron. In the one made, the neat chevron pattern had been lost in all the hammering, but it still looked pretty.
The overall impression from the smithing was one of immense complexity and skill. No wonder that swordsmithing was seen as a very magical process.
Neil.
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Neil Smith email: neil.smith_at_rmcs.cranfield.ac.uk CISMG, Cranfield University, phone: +44 1793 785900 RMCS, Shrivenham, Swindon, SN6 8LA, UK fax: +44 1793 782753 ------------------------------
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